Will Pádraig’s Irish eyes end the Open shut-out?

Pádraig Harrington did not hesitate when the inevitable question was asked: Is the Irish Open the title you would most like to win on the European Tour? In one word came a very definite response: YES.

Patriotism and a sense of Irishness have much to do with this but there’s a lot more as well, not least the failure of any one of a very talented home contingent to capture their own championship since John O’Leary at Portmarnock in 1982.

Harrington is at a total loss to explain why this should be so although it was interesting to hear him admit candidly that he had been very impressed with Francesco Molinari’s victory in the Italian Open a couple of weeks ago.

Sure, it is difficult to win on home soil because the expectation levels are greater but it is equally fair to point out that Jean-Francois Remesy has captured the French Open for the past two years, that Trevor Immelman, Tim Clark and Retief Goosen have prevailed in each of the last five South African Opens and Colin Montgomerie is the current holder of the Dunhill Links at St Andrews.

If all these golfers and others can do it at home, why do the Irish keep us waiting?

It’s certainly not for the want of talented players. Since O’Leary’s triumph in ’82, the likes of Eamonn Darcy, Christy O’Connor Junior, Des Smyth, Ronan Rafferty, Philip Walton, David Feherty, Darren Clarke, Pádraig Harrington and Paul McGinley have enjoyed some of their finest moments. Clarke did win the Smurfit European in 2001 but the Open has remained as elusive as ever.

To be fair, Harrington has done pretty well in a general sense without ever quite challenging for the top spot. He’s been second twice and also in the top ten on three other occasions.

“The Irish Open is a big deal to us and I’m looking forward to it”, says Harrington. “I did okay last year (tied fifth) and the golf course could suit me. On top of that, I have taken a good deal of confidence out of the British Masters. What I need now is to be able to play good golf and some not so good and get away with it and that’s something I used to be very good at.

“In other words, scramble. I haven’t been able to mix it up at all. I’ve been playing solid golf, not making too many birdies and getting frustrated and then not recovering when in trouble.

“As for Monty’s course, I remember there were a few tight bunkers on the edge of the doglegs. You’ve got to avoid them. The greens are nice and if we get good weather, I think Carton will fit my eye. I’d like it to blow a bit but not too much because it’s a tough golf course if the weather is not nice. Stephen Dodd played lovely golf last year and thoroughly deserved to win. I needed to get in contention at The Belfry because it’s difficult to win tournaments cold.

“It’s nice to be in the hunt so that if you’re back in the hunt the following week, it’s familiar territory. At least, I had a good final round on Sunday and my swing couldn’t be better.

“Why can’t we win the Irish Open? I just don’t have an answer. I suppose it’s one of the more difficult to win because there is always a high-class field. But I really have no idea. I could mention the weight of pressure or this or that but I really can’t tell you. I feel much better about it nowadays than I would have felt three or four years ago.

“I’m much happier and more in control of what I’m doing. We’ll be staying at home (Pádraig and family will travel to Carton by helicopter from their home in Rathmichael, Co Dublin) so you have a feel good factor about it.

“There we were over the weekend, doing interviews for the following week’s event when there was still a lot of golf to be played. In my little world, it’s like preparing for a major.

“Obviously, it’s not the same thing when you’re there but the same kind of stress is around the event. It’s going to happen sometime, that an Irishman will win the Irish Open, just as somebody

some day will win the Par-3 event at Augusta and go on to win the Masters.

“The Irish Open for me ranks just below a major and is the one on the European Tour that I most want to win. No doubt about that. But it’s not easily done.

“As I’ve been telling people for the past couple of months, I’ve been playing golf very much like Paul (McGinley), hitting greens, hitting fairways, coming off the course frustrated, which isn’t the way I used to, when I’d have a good head on me, do a bit here and there, hole a few putts, make a few birdies and end up with better scores than I shoot now.

“Caroline says she doesn’t see it in my eyes, there’s not the same kind of fire there. Sometimes when you do all the work, it does counteract the flow and freedom that you need to play good golf. That’s how you play when you’re on a run, when you’re confident.

“I’ve been trying to stay patient but maybe patience wasn’t the best thing for me. Maybe I needed a good kick up the backside. I never get angry about the way I play but I need a little more

excitement in my game.”

Pádraig’s closeness to his father, Paddy, who passed away last July, has been well chronicled.

However, he never forgets the wisdom of the man and the sound messages he imparted from time to time. Harrington recalls the time shortly after he joined the Tour when he rang Paddy and was asked how he had played.

“I played terrible, I really struggled, I used to constantly reply. Then he’d ask, what did you shoot and I’d say 67. After a month or two of this, dad turned to me and told me ‘you’d better stop saying that because people aren’t going to like you saying you played terrible and shot 67. That’s arrogance.

“But I judge my game by how well I hit my driver, how I hit my wedges and how I putt. I’ve got to stop thinking about stats, greens, fairways. It doesn’t do you any good. It has nothing to do with your score.”

Caroline Harrington will be looking into her husband’s eyes over the next few days and expecting to see that the fire has returned. If so, it could be that Pádraig will bring an end to that irritating 24-year drought!

***

Brett Who? Johan Who? That was the inevitable reaction of most golf fans on Sunday night with the confirmation that Brett Wetterich had captured the Byrons Nelson Classic on the US PGA Tour and Johan Edfors was the one to take advantage of the countless Belfry chokers to claim the Quinn direct British Masters.

A good weekend for the bookies, then, and no bad thing for this week's Nissan Irish Open starting at Carton House on Thursday. Not only has it attracted a powerful field, probably as good as any that will line out in any comparable event this year, but Edfors will be there as well.

He’ll be sporting his “Dubliner” shirt (his sponsor, Irishman Ian McGlinchey, owns a chain of pubs in Scandinavia bearing that name) and seeking the third win of the season that might well propel the so-called Roger Federer lookalike into the European Ryder Cup side next September.

As was the case at The Belfry, though, Edfors will be up against powerful opposition. Welshman Stephen Dodd and England’s David Howell, the man he defeated in a play-off 12 months ago, are returning, along with the course designer and three times champion Colin Montgomerie, US Open holder Michael Campbell, Sweden’s Niclas Fasth and Henrik Stenson, Paul Casey, Thomas Bjorn, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Nick Dougherty.

The Irish challenge, as always, is led by Pádraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell.

Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy, Stephen Browne, David Higgins, Michael Hoey, Colm Moriarty and late invitee Brian McElhinney will all hope to pick up some of the record prize fund of €2,200, 000 while it’s also an occasion for club professionals John Dwyer, Simon Thornton, Brendan McGovern, Stephen Hamill, David Mortimer, Damien Mooney and Robert Giles to claim some of the limelight.

The Irish Open affords the likes of Casey, Campbell, Clarke and Poulter, to name but four, the immediate opportunity to atone for the manner in which they collapsed in the final round at The Belfry. Poulter, mind you, may not have his mind entirely on the job given that he and two fellow Tour players, Simon Khan and Jamie Spence, have hired a private jet to bring them to Paris to support Arsenal in the Champions League final as soon they have played in tomorrow’s pro-am.

Eight of the successful 2004 European Ryder Cup team (Harrington, Clarke, McGinley, Montgomerie, Casey, Westwood, Poulter and Casey) will be chasing the first prize of €366,660 with €244,440 for the runner-up and €137,770 for third.